On 22nd July 2005, Jean Charles de Menezes was shot dead by police officers as he sat on a tube train at Stockwell station.
The head of the Metropolitan Police alleged that Jean’s clothing and behaviour marked him as a suicide bomber. The media reported that he had jumped over the ticket barriers and was wearing a thick coat despite the summer weather.
These allegations were all false. Jean Charles was entirely innocent.
Yet to date, no-one has ever been held accountable for his death.
Since 2006, Upstart have been working on a way to tell the story of what happened to Jean Charles, and what happened in the aftermath of his death. We’ve spoken to police officers, whistleblowers, campaigners and witnesses, each of whom has a unique story to tell.
The first play to come out of this work, Oh Well Never Mind Bye by Steven Lally, explores the way the media reported the shooting, against the backdrop both of the other events of July 2005 and of the Israel/Palestine conflict. The play runs at the Union Theatre, Southwark, London from 16 June – 4 July 2009. Click here to visit the Oh Well Never Mind Bye page.
If you’d like to support this project, click here.
To view blog posts for The 22nd July Project, click here.
